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The DiCecco Daily: My Favorite Eagles Training Camp 'Darlings' · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome into another episode of De Checko Daily.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: It's Andrew de Checko, Eagles beat reporter for Inside the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Birds dot Com, and I want to do something a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: little fun today with Training Camp on the horizon. I
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: want to go through some of my favorite camp darlings
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: over the last twenty or so years. And these are
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: just players who come to mind as those who kind
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of emerge from relative obscurity and for at least one
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: summer it belonged to them and they will forever be
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: remembered as training camp stars. For those of you who
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: haven't gotten a chance to catch my series that I'm
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: doing for Inside the Birds where I'm interviewing former training
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: camp stars and then bringing their stories current. Having a
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: lot of fun doing that and mixing that in with
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: my coverage, my written coverage on Inside the Birds dot
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Com and of course.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: To Checko Podcast.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Well, I've talked to former Eagles tight end Cornelius Ingram,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: who was drafted in the fifth round in two thousand
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: and nine. I've talked to I think it was two
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: thousand and nine. I believe all these years that are
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: kind of blurring together. And I've talked to wide receiver
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: of Fani MoMA, who was in camp with the Eagles
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: for two summers twenty thirteen and twenty fourteen, and I
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: have an interview that it's in the can that's going
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to come out this week with a Eagles draft pick
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: from two thousand and six that I think you all
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: are going to enjoy quite a bit. It was great
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to talk to him and hear his perspective on his career,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: really interesting background, and that will come out this week.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Hopefully you enjoy that.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: But it kind of sparks something within me to not
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: only focus on their stories, but maybe broaden it a
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: little bit and talk a little bit about some of
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: those players that, for whatever reason stuck out to me.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: And I guess i'll with wide receiver Michael Gasperson, who
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: six foot five, two hundred and twenty pounds. He was
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: in Eagles camp for what felt like an eternity, but
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: it was about three years two thousand and five, six
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: and seven, and this was a big bodied guy out
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: of San Diego, and he made some nice catches high
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: pointing the football.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: He get enamored with size.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Every big bodied receiver seems to always garner a lot
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of intrigue going into training camp right, whether it's Johnny Wilson,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Afani MoMA, Carlton Agudosi from I think twenty and eighteen,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and Michael Gasperson was really the first player that I
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: can remember that fit the mold, and he hung around
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: on the practice squad, never quite got an opportunity, but
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: he did appear in a regular season game. Believe it
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: was two thousand and seven. He eventually got into a game.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I think her transitioned from wide receiver to tight end
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: eventually and had an opportunity to catch a pass in
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: the flat and remember him being wide open, Donovan McNabb
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: hit him right in the numbers. He dropped the pass,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and I don't think he was ever really heard from again.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: But for about three summers, that was a guy that
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: you kept thinking it's going to be the year where
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: he was able to make it. He wasn't bad on
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: special teams, but it just never came together. So Michael
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Gasperson would be one of those players for me. I'd
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: also be remiss if I forgot to mention Lorenzo Booker,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: and Lorenzo Booker was signed to provide some depth at
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: running back. A little undersized, he was a player that
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: came over from Miami Dolphins and he went to Florida State.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Really quick, good short area quickness, really proficient as a receiver,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: and I think that's really where he thrived that summer,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and he caught everything.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: He made a lot of.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Explosive plays, and based off of what you saw in
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: training camp, you expected to see that translate into regular
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: season production and that just did not happen. But for
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: one year, Lorenzo Booker that summer was someone who garnered
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: a ton of headlines and was a player who was
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: talked quite a bit about as being a piece of
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: the offense that they were going to be able to
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: lean into and really make them a part of the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: passing game. And that just never really happened, and he
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: didn't last very long in Philadelphia. Another player, how about
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Hank Basket, an undrafted free agent out of New Mexico,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: who who was originally signed by the Minnesota Vikings as
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: an undrafted free agent and then was traded to the Eagles.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: The Eagles sent over wide receiver Billy mcmowen, who they
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: drafted in the third round in two thousand and three
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: out of Virginia, and Billy mcmowen I remember him having
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: a number of different numbers eighteen eighty eighty one, and
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: he was never really able to establish any kind of consistency.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I know he had some trouble dropping the football, but
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the Eagles end up getting Hank Basket and he completely
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: tears it up that summer as someone who's just winning
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: down the field, coming up with contested catches. He couldn't
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: miss anytime the quarterback lobbed it up, he came down
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: with it and in the preseason he delivered, and then
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: he started to carve out a role as a pretty
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: prominent piece of their receiving corps and lasted a few
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: years with Philadelphia, then goes to the Colts and he
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: ended up carving out a nice little career for himself.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: But it all started that summer in Philadelphia where in
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Lehigh he was just making play after play, coming up
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: with a lot of headlines and was really the talk
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: of the summer there in two thousand and I want
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: to say two thousand and six.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds about right. And Hank Basket.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: He can't talk about training camp stars without mentioning Hank Basket.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Nay Brown would be another player that really comes to mind,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: and You might think I'm a little young to remember
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Nay Brown, who was a fourth round pick of the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Eagles in nineteen ninety nine, but I remember him, and
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: that's someone who made circus catches after circus catches in
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: training camp, and there's a unofficial Nay Brown Award. He
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: really originated the training camp star that never quite was
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: able to make it to the major leagues in the
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: regular season and produce. He played a number of games
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: at the NFL level, had thirty four career catches, but
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: was never able to reach the heights that he showcased
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: in training camp, and was never really more than a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: depth receiver. His first touchdown, for those curious, actually came
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: off the arm of Doug Peterson against the Dallas Cowboys,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: and I think that's a really interesting nugget there. But
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Ny Brown lasted the nineteen ninety nine, two thousand and
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: two thousand and one seasons with Philadelphia, was released in
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the summer of two thousand and two, played for the
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Orlando Predators after that, and never got another sniff at
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the NFL. But that's someone that I always think of
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: when I think of training camp stars. How about the
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: summer of two thousand and five, where the Eagles had
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Steve Spock and Andy Thorn, two undrafted tight ends that
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: were sort of battling it out.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: They both had.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Their moments and it seemed like either one was prime
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: to make the roster. I think Andy Thorn was the
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: better receiver of the two. I think he went to
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Northern Arizona. You might have to check me on that,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: but Steven Spock ended up actually making the roster, and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: he was sort of an h BAC type of player.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: He can help on special teams, was really good as
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: a blocker. Then he goes to the Arizona Cardinals, I think,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and he lasted a little bit in the NFL, but
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I do remember that summer and those two undrafted tight
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: ends sort of vying for a spot on the roster,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: and they both had their moments and it felt like
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: momentum was shifting one way or the other, and then
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: it was eventually Steven.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Spock who won out there.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: And that's someone that I think I have to mention
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: whenever I think of Training Camp stars, a Fannie moment
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: most definitely has to be on this list as well,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: at least for me. Joining the Eagles in twenty thirteen,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the first year of the Chip Kelly era. I mentioned
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: that I spoke to him for an interview for Inside
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: the Birds. You can check that out that came out
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: on Friday. But he talks about he was very transparent.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: He was hard on himself at that time, and he
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: mentioned the early goings weren't exactly as rosie as one
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: might expect for a six foot seven wide receiver. He
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: had to learn and grow and there are certain growing
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: pains that he had to sort of work through. But
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: he mentioned how supportive chip Kelly was and that he
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: didn't baby him, but he worked with them and you
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: could see that chip Kelly saw some ability there and
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: a Fanny MoMA. I don't remember him necessarily standing out
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: in the twenty thirteen preseason. It seemed like after some
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: time to marinate in twenty fourteen, when he came back
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: for another summer, things started to come together a little
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: bit and you started to think that maybe he's got
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: a shot at sticking as a final receiver. And that
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: didn't happen either. He ends up going to the Arizona
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Cardinals after a veteran combine. They make him a tight
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: end and he plays in some games. He ended up
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: playing in a number of games for them. I think
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: it was around twenty sixteen. Then he broke his leg
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and he realized that that was going to be it
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: for him, and he's now an NFL agent. But those
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: are when you talk about training camp stars. A Fani
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: MoMA is certainly someone that I think about. In that
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: regard quarterbacks, there weren't really a ton that stick out
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to me. You can think of Timmy Chang, you can
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: from Hawaii who's now actually the head coach at Hawaii.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: You can think of Christian Hackenberg, but he was not
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: good in camp. Matt McGloin, same thing. Dane Evans in
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. He had some moments in the preseason there,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: but he always knew that he wasn't long for the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: NFL or even the practice squad, but he offered some glimpses.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I think he ended up catching on with another league.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Running backs.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I mentioned Lorenzo Booker, but Henry Josie is another player
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: that really sticks out to me. He had one hundred
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: and twenty one yards in the preseason finale in one
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: of the Chip Kelly years, might have been twenty fourteen,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I think, and he saw the quickness and he just
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: wasn't able to be tackled, and you can envision what
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: that would look.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Like in the regular season.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: But as I would like to point out, and I
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: think this audience is all well aware of this, preseason's
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: success isn't always the biggest determining factor in terms of
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: a player making a team. They assess it every day
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: in practice and where are you in terms of the
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: mental acuity aspect.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Of what you're asked to do?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: And there's the blocking component, there's the special teams component.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And while a player may flash in the preseason, that's
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: not always an indicator, but they're going to make the roster.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: I can go down the list of.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Many players who have thrived in the preseason, but it
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: ultimately comes down to how consistent are you in practice.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Ie Darius Cooper, every time he approached the practice, he
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: had a business like approach.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: He made a play every day.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: It was evident early that he was an NFL player
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: and that he belonged, and he proved that. So with
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Henry Josie, he just saw him take over. In that
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: final preseason game, as I mentioned, one hundred and twenty
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: one yards. I think he scored a touchdown in that
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: preseason and as a receiver. But he's certainly someone that
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: you think of. Nay Brown, you think of Henry Josie,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: you think of Lorenzo Booker, Hank Basket for me, Michael Gasperson,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Nay Brown.
• 11:25
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• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Up, there weren't a ton of defensive backs.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: A training camp star that you might not remember from
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Coastal Carolina. I'll say Denzel Rice ended up making the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Eagles roster, lasted one season and didn't really do a ton.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: He was the final corner to make the team. Played
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: in some games, but really sparingly, really on special teams,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: and I think he ended up going to the Texans,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: for example, one of those teams that he went to.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: But Denzel Rice, I just remember him making a ton
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: of plays in camp and you started to take note
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: because he was making, you know, making plays, and it
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: seemed like the game wasn't too.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Big for him. The moment wasn't too big for him.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: And this is someone that was an undrafted free agent
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: with Eagles in twenty fifteen and that's where he made
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the team. But since then, he went to the Texans
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, the Colts in twenty seventeen, the Browns
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen, the Bills in twenty eighteen, the Baltimore
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Ravens in twenty nineteen, and so that concluded his NFL run.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: He ended up with fourteen tackles that pass defended in
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: an interception. But that just goes to show you that
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: a lot of times you'll see these feel good stories,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: and I'm all for the story.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: As a journalist.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: There's nothing more than I like than a a really
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: good story. That's what I'm all about. But he ended
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: up playing in just four games for the Eagles that
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: season and then that was that.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: That was really his short stay there.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: But you know, I could think of different linebackers, whether
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: it's Jake Nott who ended up making the roster really
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: thrived on special teams, Travis Long from the Chip Kelly
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: era as well, he kept, unfortunately tearing his acl but
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Chip Kelly was very bullish on Travis Long, somewhat so
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: that I wouldn't have been surprised that had he been
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: healthy and made the roster, he probably would have had
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: a pretty decent role on defense as a linebacker as
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: a pass rusher, but that just never came to be.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: He was from Washington State, if I remember correctly, and
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: his career was ended because.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: He had so many knee injuries.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: But I do remember Chip Kelly being enamored with Travis Long.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: But I'm curious to hear who do you remember most
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: as a training camp star. You can leave us a
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: comment on the Inside the Bird's Twitter account. You can
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: email me well, my email is as in my bio
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: on my ex account at Andrew de Checo, or you
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: can email Inside the Birds at gmail dot com. If
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: you have some really good ones, I will read them
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: on the next podcast. I like to kind of take
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: that walk down memory lane. This is the time to
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: do it, guys, right when you have this a couple
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: of weeks until training camp where there's not a ton
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: going on, and I kind of wanted to rehash some
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: of those names of years past that really, for one
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: reason or another stuck out in my mind. But with that,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this episode.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Of the Checko Deily.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: I'm Andrew Decheco, and I'll catch you all on the
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: next one.